|
New & Current Releases
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search
Upcoming Release Calendar
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Music In Our Forums
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
|
Awfully Deep
by Roots Manuva
This is the third album for London-based rapper Rodney Smith.
| LABEL: |
Big Dada |
| RELEASE DATE: |
19 April 2005 |
| DISCS: |
1 disc |
| GENRE(S): |
Rap |
NOTES: Original UK release 31 Jan 2005.
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
The Guardian
Smith has crafted an album that is deft, addictive and profoundly musical, and it feels like a fresh-minted classic.
91
Stylus Magazine
His best [album] yet, his most fully-formed, emotionally engaging and sonically rewarding.
90
New Musical Express
A set of immense maturity that never rubs your nose in its thematic complexity, compositional innovation and thunderous thump-beats. [29 Jan 2005, p.58]
83
Entertainment Weekly
A thrilling mix of moody ambivalence and soulful reggae-tinged hip-hop. [27 May 2005, p.1341]
82
ShakingThrough.net
Awfully Deep is another strong release for Smith, and while it doesn’t sport the effortless flow of his debut or the rich variety of Run Come Save Me, its considered assessment of where he’s been and where he might be heading helps the album more than live up to its title.
80
Dusted Magazine
Smith’s tracks are both banging and self-effacing, yet the two opposite impulses never seem fully at odds with each other.
80
Dot Music
It’s Manuva’s startling honesty which first impresses.
80
Q Magazine
Smith's greatest talent lies in his surreal, witty wordplay and avuncular tone, and the way they combine to make what could be the usual rap anger sound both intimate and strangely uplifting. [Feb 2005, p.95]
80
Tiny Mix Tapes
The music is often awesomely original.
80
Playlouder
A stealthy, smoking beast of a thing: hip hop with a British passport and dubplate roots, embroidered with wiggly, scratching sound effects and made-to-measure production.
80
Uncut
THe good stuff is terrific. [Mar 2005, p.104]
80
Mojo
Smith's best, most satisfying album to date. [Mar 2005, p.106]
70
PopMatters
Not a brilliant album, not his best (that remains Run Come Save Me), just a damn fine selection of mood-groove-dub-flavours by one of music's true inimicables.
70
Junkmedia
Awfully Deep, on the whole, is a bold, ambitious swing for the fences. But, like it or not, the game's done changed, and Manuva '05 sounds way too much like Manuva '01.
70
Blender
It's protest music gone gleefully psycho. [Jul 2005, p.122]
64
Pitchfork
Awfully Deep makes for churning, menacing background music.
60
All Music Guide
Overall, Roots Manuva may have a lot to say during the verses, but when his choruses consist of little more than a repeated line shouted over and over ("Awfully Deep," "Too Cold"), listeners won't be hanging around long enough to decipher his rhymes.
58
Spin
His third album mostly shelves the wit and sui generis style-clash. [Jun 2005, p.108]
58
cokemachineglow
It’s a lot of slickness that adds up to little, though, as a culturally myopic Roots Manuva audibly struggles to feel out the changed face of hip-hop; he sounds unsure of what tone to take and what words to say.
The average user rating for this album is 8.9 (out of 10) based on 14 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Read more user comments...
Discuss this album in our forums |
|
